Sex Discrimination

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Introduction

Discrimination involves action toward individuals on the basis of their group membership; Baron and Byrne (1994) defined discrimination as prejudice in action. Discrimination can take a very overt form (e.g., refusal to hire women into certain jobs), but in many instances, gender discrimination involves the degree to which the workplace is open to versus resistant to the participation of women. Although many discussions of gender discrimination have focused on the ways managers and supervisors treat men and women, gender discrimination could involve managers, co-workers, subordinates, clients, or customers. In general, gender discrimination include behaviours occurring in the workplace that limit the target person’s ability to enter, remain in, succeed in, or progress in a job and that are primarily the result of the target person’s gender.

There are two reasons why gender discrimination is an especially important topic. First, the likely presence of systemic discrimination on the basis of gender suggests that the number of people who might be affected is huge, that is, discrimination against women would put half the population at a disadvantage. Given the potential impact of gender discrimination, the possibility that gender is an important influence on people’s work lives must be considered. Second, there is a good deal of evidence that men and women are treated differently in the workplace. Women receive lower wages than men, are segregated into low-level jobs, and are less likely to be promoted. Sometimes it is difficult to determine exactly why men and women enter different jobs or receive different pay, and what appears to be gender discrimination in the workplace may in fact reflect much broader societal t...

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... always warranted.

References

Baron, R.A. and Byrne, D. (1994). Social psychology: Understanding human interaction, 7th ed., 140-145.

Chandler, P. and Waud, C. (2003). Waud's Employment Law: the practical guide for human resource managers, trade union officials’ employers, employees and lawyers, 14th ed., 216-219

Cleveland, J., Stockdale, M. & Murphy, K. (2009) Women and men in organizations: sex and gender issues at work, 159 -164.

Crosby, F., Stockdale, M. & Ropp, A. (2007). Sex discrimination in the workplace: multidisciplinary perspectives, 7-15

Daniels, K. and Macdonald, L. (2005). Equality, Diversity and Discrimination: a student text, 65-69.

Gutek, B. (1992). Understanding Sexual Harassment at Work, 335.

Heilman, M.E. (1994). Affirmative action: some unintended consequences for working women. Research in Organizational Behavior, 16, 125-169.

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